BC Pros Should be Aware of Emerging Issues

It seems as if almost every day, new issues emerge to test the plans and preparedness of business continuity professionals across the world. New, perpetually evolving technology, cyberattacks, natural disasters, and a global economy all present new risks. And it’s up to BC pros to prepare for them. This can be easier said than done.

The 2018 Continuity Insights Management Conference will feature several presentations from companies representing various industries that will focus on emerging issues. Presenters will cover a wide range of topics that many BC pros will likely be faced with soon if they haven’t been working on them already.

Manulife Financial Corporation’s Dean Matsuno, Director of Business Continuity Management for the Investment and Corporate Divisions, and Stephen Pickford, Global Disaster Recovery Manager, will present “IT DR Program Improvements; Working with Improved Technologies and the People Who Know Them Best.” Their session will focus on documenting and exercising IT disaster recovery solutions in an evolving environment; from single on-premise application exercises in a day to exercising dozens of applications in mixed environments in a day.

Dennis Wenk, Global Advisory Consulting Director, Continuity & Resiliency for Veritas, will discuss “Next-Gen Business Continuity: The Increased Complexity of Protecting On-Premises and Cloud-Based Workloads,” addressing basic cloud nomenclature, how virtualization and cloud computing are reshaping the face of business, why organizations are shifting steadily toward cloud-first strategies, and how to deliver the Next Gen BC solution that is equally effective in supporting the reliable failover of a single application, a specific group of applications, an entire data center, or even cloud-based services.

Get ready for a “Live Hack Cyber Attack” as Frank Shultz, Managing Director for BC in the Cloud, and Derek Uzzle, Sr. Solutions Architect with Alert Logic, host a live demo of the tools attackers use to leverage vulnerabilities and compromise systems. They’ll highlight the most frequent attacks against web applications and user accounts/passwords, opening a path for attackers to upload malicious code, crawl deeper within systems and export data, and foster a better understanding of how these hacking tools function and learn how to better prepare for these instances going forward.

“Cloud Architecture at Turner Leveraging the Cloud for Operational Resilience and Technology Risk Mitigation” – What does DR Planning look like when your company takes a bold move away from on premises architecture and moves its most critical functionality into the cloud – all into the cloud? Turner (formerly Turner Broadcasting) VP of Cloud Architecture Don Browning and the Turner Business Continuity team, including Senior Business Continuity Consultant Gail Grimes, will deliver insight as to how Turner is re-architecting in cloud environments to get product to market, attract consumers, and improve operations, while improving technology resilience and mitigating risk as it strives to meet industry challenges as a premium content provider.

Some of the highly publicized cyber-attacks have illustrated that adversaries are interested in more than incidents. How does preparedness planning for cyber incidents differ from traditional business continuity planning? What other precautions should be taken to prepare for cyber-attacks? Frank Leonetti, CEO ofNorthStar Advisory Services, will provide answers in his presentation, “Cyber Risks and Emerging Technology/Threats.”

It’s 2018. Do you know where cyber is headed? Laura Mosley, Business Continuity Program Manager for Southern Glazers Wine & Spirits, will provide insight during “Cyber Security – It’s Not Just Your Data!” as she reviews the current state of cyber, including a look at area-by-area examples of significant cyber impacts, with key takeaways for each. She’ll also review legal, risk management, safety systems, physical security, public infrastructure and the energy grid, alarms, cameras, supply chain, transportation, telematics, and more.

Today’s business world moves at a faster pace than it ever has, and it is important that business continuity professionals recognize the emerging issues that they will likely face in their professional careers.

For more information about the 2018 Continuity Insights Management Conference click here.

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